
*a^ Z^'^P:'. 



/ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



TiiW E E D R I ]^ G 

IN 

NEW YORK CITY 



BY 



FRANK J. GOODNOW 






ILoniJon 
MACMILLAN & CO 

AND NEW -YORK 

1888 



^ 7 
■ / 



y-a^: 



[ in 

THE TWEED KING IN NEW YORK CITY^ 

The year 1857 marks an important epoch in the liistory of the city 
of New York. It may be taken as the date of a great change in the 
character of tlie popnlatioii of tlie city — a change whicli has vastly 
increased the difRculties of municipal government, and presented 
problems whose solution has unfoi-tunately not yet been attained. 
The middle classes, which liad thus far controlled the municipal 
government, were displaced by an ignorant proletariat, mostly of 
foreign birth, which came under the sway of ambitious })olitical 
leaders and was made to subserve schemes of political corruption such 
as had not before been concocted on American soil. 

The year 1857 is also the date of a great change in the legal posi- 
tion of the city. Down to this time all charters, and almost all laws 
affecting the government of the city, were either framed or suggested 
l)y the municipal authorities, or made to depend for their validity on 
tlie approval of the peoijlc Hut in 1857 the legislature committed 
itself finally and definitely to the doctrine that it migiit change at 
will the city institutions, framing the municipal government and dis- 
tributing the municipal powers as it saw lit. Since this date the 
largest city of the American continent has lain at the mercy of the 
State legislature; and the legislature has not scrupled to remodel and 
disarrange the governmental institutions of the city. Its charter has 
l)een subjected to a continual "tinkering " that has made the law un- 
certain, and a comprehension of its administration extremely difficult. 

By the charter and laws affecting the city, passed in 1857, the 
city government w^as arranged somewhat as follows: — 

The common council, in tlie pompous phraseology of the charter, 
was to be the "legislative authority " of the corporation. Its legis- 
lative power, however, was nothing compared with the powers that it 
l)ossessed under earlier charters. Since 1830 the common council had 
been losing its controlling jiosition in the city government, while the 
mayor and the heads of tlie city de2)artnients had been gaining power 
at its expense. All the limitations that had been imposed upon the 
council by previous charters and laws were preserved in the charter 
of 1857, and a series of new laws was passed whicli, without ex- 
])ressly amending the charter, in fact greatly limited the power of 
the council. A law of 1857 established for the county an elective 
board of supervisors, distinct from tlie city authorities, which was to 
levy the local taxes ^ and attend to those branches of the administra- 

1 Popyri^ht. 1888, by Fnnk J. Gordnow. 

" Till! levying of tliu local taxes in the city always reqiiired a special uuthoiizatiou of 



r 18 ] 

tionj that were attended to in the State at large by the county 
authont.es. Other laws defined the executive d^artLnts of The 
city. This was a serious limitation of tlie power of the city council • 
It practically took the entire organization of the city government out 
of Its hands. Although the council had no power to borrow money 
1 still possessed the nominal power of making the appropriations ior 
the city government ; but in course of time the legislature, as a 
result of the practice of granting to the Board of Supervisors power 
to levy taxes for the city and county, usurped the power of makin<.- 
these appropriations-the objects for which taxes might be levied 
being specified with such minuteness as to make the tax-levyino- acts 
practically appropriation acts. ° 

The mayor, under the charter of 1857, occupied verv much the 
smne position as before. He was to be an exclusively executive 
officer, with a limited veto power over the resolutions of the council 
He was to be elected by the people of the city for a term of two 
years. He had the power to appoint the heads of the majority of 
the city departments. In addition to these, there was a series of de- 
partments, charged partly with city and partly with State business 
which were more or less independent of the mayor and tiie aldermen' 
These were the Almshouse department, the Board of Education, and 
the Croton Aqueduct Board. Tlie heads of these departments were 
elec ed directly by the voters of the city. The comptroller, the head 
of the finance department, and the corporation counsel, the head 
oljhe law department, were chosen in the same way. 

_ This same year, 1857, the legislature determined to arrano-e cer- 
tain departments of the local government of the city in such a way ': 
that the party in power in the State government might obtain a po,- 
tion at least of the good things offered by the city of New York to 
those who tilled her numerous offices. 

The Republican party at this time controlled the State • the 
Democratic party, as usual, was supreme in the city Tiie Re- 
publicans, under the leadership of Thurlow Weed, undertook to 
change certain offices, heretofore regarded as purely local, into 
State offices, to be filled by the appointment of the' Republican 
Governor and Senate. They created a n>etropolitan police 
district, fare district, and healtii district ; and vested the admin- 

^ 'Ihis, It 18 true, had been done before, by tile charter oTimf 



[ lu I 

istratioii of these alfairs in boards whose members were for the 
most })art to be appointed 1)y the governor of the State. They 
went further and provided a State board for the administration 
of Central Park, the property of the city. This action on the 
part of the legislature aroused strong opposition in the city. 
The enforcement of the police bill was resisted, and the conflict 
Avhich ensued between the old " municipal " police and the new 
" metropolitan " police ended in bloodshed. But the decision 
of the highest court of the State that the action of the legis- 
lature Avas quite within its constitutional powers, showed the 
citizens of New York that their struggle was hopeless and 
further resistance was abandoned. 

By the system of municipal government inaugurated in 1857 
it will be noticed that the common council had very little power. 
The most influential authorities were the mayor and the exe- 
cutive boards and officers, "Tfi part elected by the voters of the 
city, in part appointed by the central government of New York 
State. This Avas the general character of the government that 
New York possessed when it fell into the hands of a band of 
" statesmen " of more than average ability and of quite pheno- 
menal dishonesty, whose career constitutes the greatest reproach 
that has ever been cast upon popular government. 

The chief figure among the new rulers of the city was 
William Marcy Tweed. Of Scotch parentage and a native of 
the city, he started in life as a chairmaker, but growing Aveary 
of the quiet Avays of trade, found a position more to his liking 
in one of the volunteer fire companies of the city,, of Avhich he 
soon became foreman. I Free and easy in his manners, loyal to 
his friends, Avith great aTiimal s})irits and a large fund of coarse 
humour, TAveed Avas just the man to be popular Avith the class 
from which the fire companies Avere recruited ; and his popularity 
among the " boys " of the fire brigade gave him an entrance into 
" city politics." His first appearance in public life Avas made in 
1850, Avhen he was elected an alderman of the city. In this 
position he exhibited all the characteristics Avhich afterwards 
made him famous. Any job or contract that AA^oidd yield him 
either pecuniary or political advantage found in him a ready 
supporter ; and so well did he make use of his opportunities that 
in 1853 he Avas elected to Congress. One term of service in 
this august body AA'as sufficient to convince TAveed that Washing- 
ton was not the sphere of activity for Avhich he Avas suited, a)id 



\ 



[ -'0 ] 

at the end of his two years he returned from the temptations of 
the national capital rich in political experience but decidedly 
poorer in pocket. The flesh-pots of the city administration had 
therefore greater attractions for him than before, and in 1857 he 
became a public school commissioner. By a judicious use of the 
" influence " attaching to his position, he succeeded in getting 
himself elected a member of the newly-established Board of 
Supervisors. He soon became the leader of this board and was 
four times elected its president. This position gave him a vast 
amount of " influence," which he continued to use for his own 
advantage until the board was abolished in 1870. 

Tweed was not the only " new man " who was emerging from 
obscurity into power during this period. Among the other 
" rising " men of the time were A. Oakey Hall, Peter B. 
Sweeny, and Richard B. Connolly. Hall was of better birth 
than the rest, and had considerable literary ability, of which he 
was inordinately proud. Under an appearance of artless sim- 
plicity he concealed a great ambition. Though generally sup- 
posed to occupy a somewhat higher moral plane than his 
associates, he was never considered remarkable for the severity 
of his principles. Sweeny was the great schemer of the 
"Ring." He began his public career as a "lobbyist" at Albany, 
and there acquired the knowledge of men and tact in managing 
them for which he was famous, and which was the means of his 
participation in the operations of the "Ring." Connolly was the 
least attractive of all these men. He had few redeeming traits. 
He was regarded as cowardly and disloyal. His important 
political position was due to his talent for finance, which was 
considerable — greater indeed, it was thought, than his honesty. 
This was always distrusted ; and to this fact was due the nick- 
name of " Slippery Dick," frequently applied to him in the 
papers of the day. For a long time these four men worked 
separately ; but in the end their community of aim and of 
methods brought them together, and " they became firmly 
leagued in the pursuit of the same brilliant prize — the con- 
trol of the municipal government and patronage of New 
York." 1 

They undertook to win this prize by obtaining control of the 
" foreign vote," i.e. the foreign - born population of the city, 
which in the years immediately preceding 1860 had increased 

^ AYorth American Reriew, vol. cxix. p. .378. 



enormously.' In this foreign-born population the most numerous 
and most manageable element was the Irish. The Democratic 
party has always held the bulk of the Irish vote, and the 
" regular " Democratic organization in the city was Tammany 
Hall. The ])rime aim of Tweed and his associates, therefore, 
was to ol)tain control of Tammany. __- — ' 

Tammany Hall grew out of the Columl)ian Society, formed 
in 1789 by William Mooney, an Irish -American Whig.'- The 
purposes of the society were at first mainly social, though from 
the very beginning it strove for political influence. In 1805 it 
changed its name to the "Tammany Society." This name was 
borrowed from an Indian chief Tamanend, and the society was 
organized in Indian fashion. The society was composed of thir- 
teen " tribes," with twelve " sachems " or directors, a " grand 
sachem" or president, a "sagamore" or master of ceremonies, 
and a " wiskinski " or doorkeeper. With the change in name 
came a change in purpose. From a social club it developed into 
a political organization. For a long time its greatest strength 
was to be found in the lower middle classes of the city popula- 
tion, and its membership roll was an eminently respectable one ; 
but the change in the j)opulation from 1855 to 1860 and the 
great increase of the ignorant Irish element changed the character 
of the club. A new system of organization was evolved. _Tam- 
many Hall was originally a meeting of all Democrats ; but the 
general meeting was as early as 1822 replaced ])y a represent- 
ative general committee whose members Avere elected in "prim- 
aries." Partly through fraudulent practices in the primaries and 
partly because of the growing disinclination of respectable Demo- 
crats to attend them, the actual voting Democratic population of 
the city soon lost all control over the general committee. The 
organization of this committee fell comj)letely into the hands of 
the chairman of a sub-committee on organization, who became 
Avhat is known as the " boss " of the hall, and who as boss of the 
hall controlled the Democratic party in the city. The delegates 

^ The returns of the census of 1870 relative to the proportion of foreign-born 
to native popuhition in the city of New York are interesting as indicating about 
what was the extent of tlie " foreign vote." At that time, witli a pojiulation of 
942,292, there was a foreign pojnilation of 419,094 against a native po]iulation of 
523,198. In otlier words, four-ninths of tlie popuhition of the city at tlie time 
the " Ring " was in jiower was of foreign birth. 

^ Wiiig in tlie early days meant a member of the insurgent party as opposed 
to the Tories, who supported King George III. in the Revolutionary War. 



[ 22 ] 

to the party convention at which the candidates of the party 
were nominated, though formallj^ chosen in meetings open to all 
Democrats, were actually designated by the members of the 
Tammany organization. Popular in appearance, Tammany Hall 
was actually a despotic instrument of the local " bosses " — " a 
_^ll-organize(l hierarchy of jDoliticians and place-holders." 

In 1863 Tweed was made the chairman of the general com- 
mittee of Tammany Hall, and in the same year the grand sachem 
of the Tammany Society. He was thus the official head both of 
the society at large and of the political oi'ganization. At this 
time, however, the Tammany " King," as it afterwards was called, 
was not completely formed, and Tammany Hall, though by far 
the most important political organization in the city, was not 
absolute even in the Democratk^pa£ty^ It had a bitter enemy 
'in Mozart Hall, a political organization led by Fernando Wood, 
a former mayor of the city. The claims of Mozart Hall were 
satisfied in this same year, 1863, by granting to its leader the 
Democratic nomination to Congress. This concession not only 
terminated the strife within the ranks of the Democratic party, 
but also brought into the service of Tammany two politicians 
who proved extremely useful. These were A. Oakey Hall and 
Albert Cardozo. Hall had started in life as a member of the 
opposite party — the liei:»ublican — but had recently allied himself 
with Mozart Hall, and now became a j^ronounced Democrat. 
Cardozo's adhesion to Tammany was secm"ed by his nomination 
to the position of judge of one of the most important courts 
of the city. Soon afterwards Tweed was appointed deputy- 
A commissioner of streets. The "Ring "was now fast consolidat- 
\ ing. The enormous patronage possessed by its members enabled 
them to control almost all the nominations of the Democratic 
party to positions in the city. They provided their adherents 
with places in the city government, and when the supply of 
places became inadequate, they enlarged the city pay-roll to 
create new places. By means of the political influence they 
exerted over the Democi'atic party in the State, they packed the 
State legislature with their followers, and placed upon the bench 
judges on whom they could rely. The most notorious of these 
corrupt judges, created and controlled by the Ring, were Albert 
Cardozo, George G. Barnard, and John H. M'Cunn. In 1865 
the Ring ol)tained control of the mayoralty. Its candidate, 
.lohn T. Hoffman, was a man of much higher character than his 



[ ■^■■^ ] 

supporters and associates. He was personally honest, but his 
ambition blinded him to the acts of his political friends. His 
initial resistance to the operations of the Ring seems to have 
been overcome by the promise of the governorship of the State. 
In 1868 this promise was fulfilled; Hoffman was nominated for 
governor and was elected. His election was secured by the 
gi'ossest and most extensive frauds ever perj)etrated in the city, 
e.f/. illegal naturalization of foreigners, false registration, repeating 
of votes, and unfair counting. The mayoralty, left vacant by/ 
the promotion of Hoffman, was filled by the election of Hall, 
wl^o took his seat on the first day of January 1869. As Samuel 
J. Tilden said, by this election " the Ring became completely 
organized and matured." It controlled the common council of 
the city and the legislature of the State, and its nominee sat in 
the gubernatorial chair. Hall was mayor ; Sweeny was city 
chamberlain or treasurer of both city and county ; Tweed was 
l)ractiically supreme in the street department ; Connolly was city 
comptroller, and thus had charge of the city finances ; the city 
judiciary was in sympathy with these men ; and finally their 
control of the Tammany organization made it an extremely 
difficult if not an imj^ossible thing to dislodge them from their 
position by opposing them at elections. 

It might be thought that the powers possessed by the Ring 
were sufl&cient to enable them to carry out any scheme that they 
had devised already or could invent in the future for the plunder- 
ing of the city ; but they were not yet content. The elections 
of 1869 had given the Democratic party a majority in both 
houses of the State legislature, and the Ring seized this op})or- 
tunity to introduce certain changes into the city charter. These 
changes, though made in the immediate interest of the Ring, 
Avcre for the most i)art sound and Avise, according in principle 
Avith the most advanced modern theory of municipal administra- 
tion. They tended to give the city greater ])ower over its own 
local affairs, to simplify its extremely complex administrative 
institutions, and to centre the responsibility for the administra- 
tion of local business in very few hands. 

The neAv charter's only fault was that these hands were at 
the moment unclean and grasping hands. On account of its un- 
doul)ted merits this charter was received by the people of the 
city with considerable enthusiasm, and was a])])rovc(l by the 
leading newspapers, including those wlnCli o|)])osod the Ring. 



I [24] 



The Citizen'^ Association, established in 1864 in the interests of 
good goverrinient, endorsed the draft-charter, and a petition to 
the legislature for its adoption was signed by some of the very 
best citizens of New York.^ One of the reasons of the very 
general approval of the charter by the citizens of New York was 
the fact that the new law proposed to give to the city privileges 
of local government which rightfully belonged to it, and which 
had been taken away by the laws passed since 1857. The 
" radical " commissions, as they were called, Avhich had been 
formed by the Kepublican legislature, and whose members were 
appointed by the governor, had always been very unpopular 
with the great mass of citizens ; and the adherents of the Eing 
had constantly maintained that these State commissions were 
responsil)le for most of the misgovernment from which the city 
had so long sufiered. Accordingly there was an almost universal 
demand for their abolition. Many of the citizens felt that it 
was desirable to give the King full power that it might be held 
to full resiDonsibility for the government. But it must not be 
supposed that the changes proposed by the Ring met with no 
opposition. On the contrary, the Republican leaders opposed 
tlieni if for no other than party reasons ; and quite a niimber of 
Democratic ])oliticians, who felt that they had not received their 
share of the good things to be enjoyed in the city government, 
set up a resolute resistance to the passage of the new laws. 
This resistance the Ring overcame only by the expenditure of 
an enormous amount of money — so enormous an amount that 
the passage of the new charter by the legislature at Albany 
finally became for the Ring a matter of life and death.- The 
laws were passed and provided as follows : — 

1. The old elective board of supervisors, which had been 

^ The Herald in its issues of 4th and 6th Feljruary approved the proposed 
charter ; and the day after its adoption, 6th April 1870, the Times said : "The 
new charter is very generally conceded to be a good one. We have the assur- 
ances of the best men of both parties that it is a substantial and reliable reform, 
and from the examination that we have been able to give it we are inclined to 
concur in that opinion." Indeed, of all the newspapers only the Tribune and 
the Evenino Post seem to have had misgivings about the charter. One of the 
reasons of this well-nigh universal approval of the charter by the press was un- 
doubtedly to be found in the large grants of corporation advertising — a means 
regularly employed by the Ring to form public opinion ; but it must be said that 
subsequent events showed that the Times at least was honest in its belief. 

- Indisi)ensable in order to enable the conspirators to reimburse the e-xpenses 
to whic^ they had been put. 



[ 25 ] 

notoriously corrupt, was abolished, and its functions were trans- 
ferred again to the mayor, recorder, and aldermen of the city. 

2. The entire governmental power in the city was consoli- 
dated in the hands of the mayor. The powers of the common 
council were if anything lessened. A subsequent amendment 
to the charter, "tacked" to the tax-levy, gave the mayor the 
absolute power of appointing all the important officers of the 
city government, but not the power of removal. 

3. An entirely new board was created, styled the Board of 
.Apportionment. This was composed of the mayor, the comp- 
troller, the commissioner of public works, and the president of 
the Park department. It was empowered to make all the appro- 
priations necessary for carrying on the city government. The 
men who made up this board were, in the order of the offices 
mentioned : Hall, Connolly, Tweed, and Sweeny. The Ring 
thus obtained the entire control of the expenditures of the city. 

Soon after the passage of the charter the mayor made his 
appointments. The most imi)ortant of these have just lieen 
mentioned. The other })ositions were filled with persons Avhom 
the Ring could trust ; not Democrats exclusively, for many of 
the commissions provided for by the laws contained a number 
of Republicans. Among the new appointees Avere not a few 
respectable names.^ 

In addition to these laws reorganizing the city administration, 
another law was })assed which, though of a temporary character, 
gave the members of the Ring great opportunity for plunder. 
] This law" provided for the closing up of the accounts of the 
^ county board of supervisors which, we have seen, was abolished 
in 1870. It made the mayor, the comptroller, and the president 
of the old board of supervisors a Board of Audit, with power to 
examine and allow all claims against the county })revious to 1870. 
This board has come to be known as the ad interim Board of 
Audit. Its members were Hall, Connolly, and Tweed. The 
])urpose of the Ring in establishing this board Avas to provide for 
the payment of certain municipal indebtedness incurred previous 
to the passage of the charter laAV of 1870, and to reimburse 
itself for the expense incurred in carrying that charter. "Within 

^ In fact, the selection of the office-holders was made with such care and judgment 
that the Xew Vork Times was again deceived. In its issue of 13th April 1870, 
it says that the mayor's appointments "are far uliove tlic average in point of 
personal fitness, and should be satisfactory."' 



[ 26 ] 

a few days after the passage of this law, the new board met and 
practically delegated its powers to James Watson, the county 
auditor, who had worked his way into this position from the 
vantage ground of the city jail. Claims to the amount of 
$6,000,000 were audited and paid out of the city treasury in 
the course of three months and a half. The greater part of this 
sum was practically payment for the charter of 1870 and the 
privilege of local government. The price was certainly high 
enough to cause the privilege to be duly appreciated. 

As the year 1870 drew towards its close, it became necessary 
for the Ring to make its arrangements for the coming mayoralty 
election. The charter provided that the mayor should remain 
in office until the first day of the year 1871. The successfid 
prosecution of the schemes of the Ring required Hall's re-election. 
He was accordingly renominated by the Tammany organization, 
and after a spirited canvass was elected. A threatened defection 
of Roman Catholic votes was checked by the hint that the sub- 
ventions given by the Ring to Catholic charitable institutions 
would be withdrawn if the Catholic vote should be cast for the 
opposing candidate. 

Strengthened by this election, the Ring introduced into the 
State legislatiu'e, and carried by open bribery of a Republican 
member, a bill which gave to the supervisors, now the mayor, 
recorder, and aldermen, the power to raise taxes for each of the 
years 1871 and 1872 not to exceed two per cent on the valua- 
tion of the property assessed for taxation, nor $25,000,000 in 
amount. Power was also given to the Board of Apportionment 
(composed, it will be remembered, of Tweed, Hall, Connolly, and 
Sweeny) to issue bonds. Other laws passed at the same session 
permitted the incurring of $15,000,000 of debt during the year 
1871 ; so that with the other revenue of the city the Ring had 
at its disposals in this the last year of its existence, over 
$48,000,000.^1 Other laws forced the supervisors of the county 
of New York to raise all the moneys demanded by the Board of 
Api)ortionment ; provided that the aldermen and assistants 
should hold office vuitil November 1872, vacancies occurring in 
the meantime to be filled by the mayor, i.e. hy the Ring ; re- 
organized the Board of Education in such a way that the mayor 
had much more control over it ; made the same officer a member 
of the police and health boards ; made the mayor, comptroller, 
' See New York Times of 24tli April 1871. 



[ 27 ] 

commissioner of public works, and the commissioners of taxes a 
board of street-opening and improvement, and authorized this 
new board to alter the plan of the city whenever they deemed it 
for the public interest to do so. They thus had the power to 

close, open, ^viden, or straighten any or all of the streets. 

With these laws the King reached the height of its ])owcr 
though not that of its am})iti()n. Nothing but the broad field of 
national administration could now satisfy its enlarged desiijes. 
It hoped and had begun to plan the advancement of its friend 
the State governor to the position of President of the United 
States. But in the midst of its pi-osperity clouds began to 
gather, and the murmurs of the approaching storm made them- 
selves heard. Before descrilnng its overthrow it \\'ill perhaps be 
well to indicate the method and the extent of its campaign of 
plunder^ 



The methodswHTch the ?ving adopted to fill the pockets of 
its members were various in kind and of different degrees of 
immorality. They ran along the gamut of public dishonesty 
from abuse of official position for the advancement of private 
ends to ti-ansactions which can with difficulty be distinguished 
from actual theft. ) IL good example of the first sort is aftbrded 
by .the scheme for/Avidening Broadway between 34th and 59th 
Streets. In such cases custom had laid do^vTi the rule that of 
the three commissioners charged with the conduct of the enter- 
prise, one should be named by the corjjoration counsel, the 
representative of the city, a second should be chosen by the tax- 
payers, and the third should be appointed by an independent 
judge. . The Rir.g, ignoring custom absolutely, caused three 
persons who, it was known, would work in its interest, to be 
a])pointed by J idge Cardozo, before Avhom it arranged to have 
the matter brought. Soon after the ajipointment of the com- 
missioners, the members of the King and their friends began to 
jnirchase the property that would l)e aft'ected by the change. 
The result showed that they acted with a foresight hardly attain- 
al)le without a basis of exact knowledge. It is said that " certain 
})ersons, combining their capital, bought eight lots between 51st 
and 5 2d Streets and five street lots in the rear, i)aying therefor 
$350,000 ; they were awarded 834,826 cash, while they retained 
a front worth alone at least 8300,000 upon a similar valuatioiu 
besides the five rear lots which were thus made to cost them but \/ 
$3000 each." The members of the King, however, were not 



[ 2.S ] 

content with the profits to be derived from their exact fore- 
knowledge of the action of the commissioners ; the awards of 
damages to them and their friends were much more generous 
than the awards made to ordinary persons. Thus, for essentially 
similar pieces of land one person received damages of $16,120, 
another only $7625. For the city which they represented, the 
Ring did not by any means exhibit the same tenderness as for 
their own friends ; in this transaction the damages of the city 
were reduced from the sum of $454,398 to the paltry amount of 
$45. Again the assessments for improvement showed the same 
singular inequality which characterized the awards for damages. 
Certain ])roperty belonging to a member of the Ring was 
assessed for the sum of $6439, Avhile property benefited no more 
than his had to pay $17,254. The report of the commission 
had by the law to be approved by the courts ; but these were in 
the control of the Ring and therefore made no objection. The 
board of street oi)ening was transformed in a similar way into a 
means for enriching the members of the Ring. Other means of 
obtaining money were the exploiting of the markets, where 
stand-holders were compelled to pay enormous prices for the 
transfer of their stands or for improvements, and the assessments 
(i.e. forced contributions to party funds), levied on the employees 
of tlie public schools. 

--^Butallthe other enterprises of the Ring dwindle into insignifi- 
cance when compared with the colossal frauds that were committed 
in the building of the new court-house for the county. AVhen 
this undertaking was begun, it was stipulated that its total cost 
should not exceed $250,000 ; but before the Ring was broken 
up, upwards of $8,000,000 had been expended, and the work 
was not completed. Here the operations of the Ring can with 
difiiculty be distinguished from ordinaiy theft. Whenever a bill 
was brought in by one of the contractors, he was directed to 
increase largely the total of his charge ; and it was difficult, if 
not impossible, for him to get his pay if he did not comply. 
The usual result of course was compliance. A warrant was then 
drawn for the amoiuit of the bill as raised ; the contractor was 
paid, perhaps the amount of his oi'iginal bill, |)erbaps a little 
more ; and the difi'erence between the original and the raised 
bills was divided between the members of the Ring. It is said 
that about sixty-five per cent of the bills actually paid by the 
county represented fraudulent nddition of this sort. Tbe Ring 



( 



[ -) ] 

was fairly safe fi'om scnitiiiy or control l)ecause all the. county 
offices which had been estal)lished to supervise and check the 
])aynients from the public treasury were filled by its agents. 
Tweed, in his capacity as commissioner, Avould order the Avork 
to be done ; by means of his influence in the board of su])er- 
visors, of which it a\i11 be remembered he was the president, 
he would have the bills passed ; Watson, the county auditor, 
Tweed's tool aiid accomplice, would apjjrove them, and the 
warrants of payment would then be issued. X In oixler to prevent 
the people from knowing how much of their money was being 
spent, Comptroller Connolly "withheld in 1870 the report on the 
finances of the city and county, which he was legally bound to 
make on the first day of January, and rendered no report until 
October. In this re])ort everything of a sus])icious character 
was placed in an account called " general jmrposes." Of a total 
expenditure of $21,000,000 it appeared that $9,000,000 had 
been paid out for "general purposes." In the meantime, not- 
withstanding an enormous increase in the taxes, the city debt 
was increasing at a rate which would have excited general alarm 
had the peo})le known the facts. But the condition of things 
soon began to be suspected ; suspicion being excited especially 
by the failure of the comj)troller to report as he should have 
done. In order to quiet these suspicions the comptroller played 
a very bold game — a game of which the boldness seemed to 
assure the success. He invited a committee of citizens, whose 
honesty, respectability, and capacity could not be questioned, to 
examine the accounts of the city ; and he was able so completely 
to deceive them that they issued a " card " in which they stated 
that the " financial affairs of the city under the charge of the 
comptroller are administered in a correct and faithful manner." 
They stated further that the debt of the city was almost twenty 
millions less than it was afterwards ascertained to be ; and that 
if the then obtaining rate of redemption was kept up the total 
debt of the city would be extinguished in less than twelve years. 
Such a statement naturally (juieted suspicion for a time, 
^■"fii the earlj^ part of this same year, however, a little thing 
had happened which finally led to the downfall of the Ring. 
At the instance of James O'Brien, the leader of the " YjJung 
Democrats " and an opponent of Tammany, Coiuiolly appointed 
AMUiam S. Copeland to the ])osition of clerk in the auditor's 
office. Into Copeland's hands soon after his ap])ointment there 



[ 30 j 

came by accident certain vouchers which struck him as peculiar. 
Pursuing the matter, he found a certain account, entitled 
" County Liabilities " which contained some of the enormous 
bills paid by the city for plastering and furniture. He waited 
for his opportunity and copied the whole account and gave the 
copy to his patron, O'Brien, thinking that it might become useful 
in time. O'Brien decided not to publish it immediately, pre- 
ferring by threat of making it public to compel the Eing to pay 
a large claim of his against the city, for fees alleged to have been 
earned during his occupancy of the office of sheriff. He failed 
in this, and in the spring or early summer of 1871 he carried 
the account to the Neio York Times. This paper began to expose 
the operations of the Eing in its issue of iSth July 1871. It 
showed, in the first place, that enormous frauds had been com- 
mitted in the leasing and furnishing of armouries ; it announced 
that more serious revelations were coming ; and it boldly 
denounced the members of the Eing in large capitals as 
THIEVES and SWINDLEES, and defied them to sue the 
paper for libel. On the 2 2d of July it published in the most 
conspicuous place in the paper extracts from the secret accounts 
obtained from O'Brien. Further extracts were given in later 
issues ; and on 29th July all the charges against the Eing were 
.summed up in a supplement. This rcswnd, which was printed 
both in English and in German, showed that nearly $10,000,000 
had been expended ior the court-house and for armoury repairs 
and furnishings. 

The result of these exposures was a meeting of citizens early 
in September. At this meeting a former mayor of the city pre- 
sided, and vigorous speeches Avere made by some of the most 
prominent citizens. It was followed by the formation of a sort 
of peaceable vigilance committee, under the imposing title of the 
" C'ommittee of Seventy." This committee, together with Samuel 
TTTTilTfen-ftoiTg a leatung Democratic politician, and afterwards can- 
didate for the presidency of the United States), went to work at 
once, and with great energy, to obtain actual proof of the frauds 
described by the Times. It was owing mainly to the tireless 
endeavours of Mr. Tilden — who at the time was chairman of 
the Democratic State Central Committee, but who deemed heroic 
remedies as necessary for his party as for the city — that this 
work was successful, and that prosecutions were brought against 
several members of the Eincr. When it was evident that the 



' / 



excitement aroused by the Tinien- would not blow ovor, the 
leacTBrs^of_Z]Iajiiniaiiy-4i«4«i-t^^ to make a scapegoat of Connolly 
le least respected and most unpopular of their number. 
Connollyj however,^vas'ndt disposed to be offered as a""" vicarious 
sacrifice " (his own phrase), and hastened to make terms with 
]\lr. Tildcn, Avho was by this time regarded as the head and 
front of the opposition to the Ring. The result of Connolly's 
surrender was the appointment, at Mr. Tilden's suggestion, of 
Mr. A ndrew H. Green as Connolly's deputy, Avith full i)owers. 
This move was a tremendous step forward for the prosecution. 
The possession of the comptroller's office gave access to papers 
M'hich furnished almost all the evidence afterwards used in the 
crusade against the King. It further furnished Mr. Tilden with 
a clue to the method that the King had adopted in the di\ision 
of the sjjoils. 

Notwithstanding the advances that they had made, the 
reformers were not yet strong enough to free the Democratic 
party in the State of New York from Tweed and Tammany. 
At the part}' convention held in October in the city of Kochester, 
Tanmiany methods secured the nomination of a State " ticket " 
which was not displeasing to Tweed. Tweed also retained the 
chairmanship of the Tammany General Committee, and secured 
a renomination to the State Senate. But when it came to the 
elections in November, the reformers took care to put a " ticket" 
in the field that would attract voters of all classes and nation- 
alities, and secure the endorsement of the Conmiittee of Seventy. 
Perha])s no election ever held in New York created so much 
excitement .as did the autumn election of 1871. Eminent 
clergymen, it is said, " exhorted their hearers to vote as good 
citizens should." The honest registration of voters was large 
beyond precedent, and although the day was not at that time a 
legal holiday, the majority of the places of business were closed. 
The voting population seemed determined to give its whole 
attention to the King for one day at least. The usual election 
frauds were attempted by desperate Tammany chiefs, but for 
the most part without success. New York, for the first time in 
many years, saw a comparatively honest election. "When the 
votes were counted after the closing of the polls, it was found 
that the niajoi'ity of the citizens of New York had voted for the 
reform " ticket," regardless of ])arty, and that the influence of 
the King had been destroyed, not only in the city itself, l)ut also 



[ ■■^■^ ] 

in the State. Tweed, it is true, by reason of his great personal 
})opularity in his district, secured an election to the State Senate, 
but he was almost the only one of the Ring candidates who held his 
own against this remarkable outburst of popular indignation. 
With this election the power of the Tweed Ring in the city of 
New York was broken, and the reformers were able to direct 
their attention to the punishment of its members. None of the 
leading actors in the disgraceful drama failed to pay in some 
measure the penalty of his deeds. Tweed, after a chequered 
experience in eluding the grasp of justice, died in jail. Connolly 
passed the remainder of his life in exile. Sweeny left the 
country and long remained abroad. Of late he has returned to 
the city, where he lives in extreme retirement. Hall was tried 
and obtained a favourable verdict, but he has chosen to live out 
of America. Of the judges whose corrupt decisions so greatly 
aided the Ring, Barnard and M'Cunn were impeached and re- 
moved from the bench, while Cardozo resigned his position in 
time to avoid impeachment. 

The follomng figures will give an approximate idea of the 
amount the Ring cost the city of New York. In 1860, before 
Tweed came into power, the debt of the city was reported as 
amounting only to $20,000,000, while the tax rate was about 
1"60 per cent on the assessed valuation of the property in the 
city liable to taxation. In the middle of the year 1871, the 
total debt of the city and the county — which were coterminous, 
and for all practical purposes the same — amounted to 
$100,955,333"33, and the tax rate had risen to over 2 per cent. 
During the last two years and a half of the government of the 
"X/ Ring the debt increased at the rate of $28,652,000 a year. 
These figures are taken from the report of the comptroller pub- 
lished in the Neto York Tribune of 8th August 1871. 
" Soon after the fall of the Ring various plans were proposed 
for reforming the city government. More attention was given 
to the constitution of the common council than it deserved, since 
this body had long ceased to have any great importance in the 
city. Minority representation was attempted, but was held by 
the courts to be unconstitutional. Recourse was finally had to 
the old one-chamber system, i.e. a single board of aldermen, but 
it soon became evident that the aldermen were not to be trusted ; 
and the most important function they have to discharge, namely, 
the granting of franchises, is now limited by the necessity of a 



[ 33 ] 

sale at public auction. This iiniitatioii is the result of the scan- 
dal connected with the granting of the franchise for the tramway 
running through Broadway. The actions of the aldermen were 
so peculiar as to leave no doubt in the minds of most people that 
a majority of them had been bribed to make the grant. Public 
suspicion was so strong that the district attorney (the prosecuting 
officer) secured the indictment of a number of the aldermen and 
of some of the promoters of the tramway company. Several 
trials have already been held. Two of the aldermen have been 
convicted and are now in prison, and suits against others are still 
in progress. So far, all attempts to convict the bribers have 
failed. The person whose conduct had aroused the strongest 
suspicion was, it is true, convicted ; but the New York Court of 
Ap})eals ordered a new trial, which had not been held when he died. 

The executive part of the city government remained practically 
unchanged for a number of years. The only important altera- 
tion made by the charter of 1873 was the lessening of the powers 
of the mayor. His one important power, viz. the appointment 
of the heads of departments, was taken away from him altogether 
as regards some of the departments, and was made dependent as 
regards most of the others, on the consent of the aldermen. This 
plan of dividing the responsibility for the important appointments 
was afterwards felt to be unwise ; and after the successful opera- 
tion in the neighbouring city of Brooklyn of a charter which 
centred the responsibility for the city government in the hands 
of the mayor, it was decided to try the same plan in New York, 
and in 1884 an Act was passed increasing the mayor's powers. 
He now has the appointment of all the heads of the city depart- 
ments, with the exception of the comptroller, who is still elected 
by the people. He has not, however, the absolute power of re- 
moval. The government of the city is therefore still substanti- 
ally the government devised by Tweed in 1870. The Board of 
Apportionment still remains, under the more cumbrous title of 
the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Its composition is 
somewhat different, but it still consists entirely of executive officers 
of the city. It has the charge of all the appropriations for the 
city government, for which the board of aldermen has then to 
make provision by the levying of taxes — a power which has 
finally been granted to the city authorities by the legislature 

The only reforms that are advocated at present with any 
degree of earnestness are : — 



[ 34 ] 

1. A change in the date of the city elections. These are now 
held simultaneously Avith the National and State elections in the 
month of November. A separate election of city officials in the 
spring, it is maintained, would help to separate city politics from 
those of the State and of the nation. 

2. The abolition of most of the " hydra-headed " commissions, 
as they are often called, and the control of each of the principal 
departments of the city government by one man. 

3. The bestowal upon the mayor of the power of removal. 

4. The adoption for our elections of an act similar to the 
English Ballot Act of 1872. 

The experience of the city has shown that the Tweed charter 
is not really a bad one, but is in accordance with the natural line 
of development and conforms to the now generally prevailing 
theory of municipal government. The plan of concentrating 
power and responsibility for its exercise in the hands of a very 
few men seems now to be recognized as correct. Expeinence has 
shown that power thus concentrated is susceptible of great abuse, 
but it is hardly possible that it will ever again be so abused as 
during the reign of the Ring. One of the essential elements of 
the Ring's supremacy was its control over the courts, and nothing 
like the Tweed judiciary is likely to reappear in New York city. 
The Association of the New York Bar, which contains all the 
leading members of the profession, now exercises a very great 
and very salutary influence, if only in a negative way, over the 
choice of judges. The formation of the association has un- 
doubtedly done a great deal to lessen the disadvantages of an 
elective judiciary. The old party system still remains and must, 
in a large city like New York Avith its great masses of ignorant 
voters, ever offer a great obstacle to the selection of the best men 
for office. The radical changes now advocated in the methods of 
elections, and the reform of the civil service by the extension of 
competitive examinations, can only serve as palliatives. Many 
of the evils which the city has experienced in the past may be 
expected to recur, until such time as its electors are more intelli- 
gent, their allegiance to party less strong, and their political 
leaders more pure. 



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